Visit to the Wadsworth

I was happy to be visiting the Wadsworth Atheneum. I believe I had been there back in grammar school but I had no memory of what I would find inside. What I found was another unique building that had extremely intriguing pieces that undeniably caught my eye. The part of the building that had me in amazement the most was the Great Hall, which I have included here.
Unfortunately the photo doesn’t do justice to the magnitude of the room. I would love to have a room like this in my home to throw parties and dances in. The design of the windows up next to the ceiling was rare, which gave it a cheery feel, even though it was overcast outside. The pink color of the walls and the interesting sculptures and paintings put me in good spirits which was a nice change from the dreary miserable feeling of being sick. I was just in love with the room. I had my boss along with me which gave me an advantage both to navigate through the maze like rooms but also to get a neat sense of history about the museum. Ironically enough, my boss had actually painted the ceiling in the Great Hall back in the 90s and a plague hangs there on the wall to this day indicating such. However, as you can see here, the plague has seen better days and needs to be refinished.
My boss, Mike, hasn’t worked at the Wadsworth in quite some time, so it was interesting to see the accomplishments he had here. I often hear him talk about his days at the museum and I was now able to actually see some of the things that he worked on. Mike was the facility manager there for something like 10+ years. He wasn’t just responsible for maintaining the building he was heavily involved in setting up and breaking down all of the artwork displays. I thought what a neat job that must have been; being able to have a firsthand view of such masterful artwork. He was able to add in his own creativity as well when creating the display setup. He also had to ensure the security of each piece, which I could imagine must have been challenging. These art pieces are irreplaceable and they had to, at all costs, protect the work.
After I was done appreciating the Great Hall and listening to my boss’s stories of the painting challenges we ventured off through the many wings of the museum. It was neat knowing that I was walking through the oldest public art museum and originally the Wadsworth was a teaching museum. The building as it stands today is much larger in size than what it had originally started out as. Today the Wadsworth is compiled of five building totaling 192,000 square feet. As individuals donated money over the years, wings were added on and then dedicated to the donators. That is why the museum can seem so maze like because of all the additions.
As I wandered through the many wings of the building, the item that I kept coming back to was this painting done by Salvador Dali.

This painting is so interesting. Depending upon how you look at it, you can see many different things going on. It is like a picture within a picture. It is amazing to me how he was able to incorporate all of these different items together to make such a masterpiece. This painting really is so creative and unique. Dali was a Spanish artist who painted this picture in 1938. It is called “Apparition of Face and Fruit-dish on a Beach”. Dali was known as one of the leading surrealist artists of his time. It’s said that he associated with other famous artists such as Picaso and Miro. Surrealism is a term that I have heard thrown around but never really knew where it came from or what it meant. Surrealism was a European cultural movement that began in the early 1920s. It is a style of art that uses visual images from the subconscious mind and has no intention of making the artwork understandable. Dali certainly accomplished that description in this painting. As interesting as the piece is, it really doesn’t make any sense but I think that is what I like about it so much. Not understanding it makes it interesting to me.
It is fascinating to see how art can come in so many forms. There is no right or wrong when it comes to art and I think that is what makes it so great. It isn’t like a math problem, only one possible answer to a problem. Art is a feeling, a passion and can be whatever you want it to be.
Work cited:
surrealism.org